Any Irish feeling a bit isolated...

[SuperStylin]

...for being critical of the gender critical?

The referendum was such a high but the repeal groups I was part of have gone on to become equality groups (I have no issue with equality but the issues they are fighting for seem in almost every case to be to the detriment of women)
It’s gone from such a high to such a low as it’s overwhelming how quickly people will dismiss you as transphobic for airing a genuine concern.

Wondered is there anyone in a similar situation or if you can point me in the direction of likeminded groups?

There seem to be some GCF on twitter OP. I agree not many though for some strange reason.

We exist. Just tend to be wary given the abuse, doxxing and threats to employment heaped on anyone who veers from the borglike script of what declares itself "Irish feminism". Some very nasty people out there.

Borg like is right! Even on non feminist Facebook groups it’s becoming increasingly unpopular to speak up against gender neutral bathrooms, prison issues etc. Trans suicide rates is what’s generally thrown back in response to anything.
Yet the UK, particularly MN, seem to have so many more GCF

You could ask Maryz except she's been banned

I'm shocked at how nasty the Irish feminists and their woke bro cheerleaders are on twitter. I understand that one of them works for Twitter Support in their Dublin office?

The Irish GC feminists I've met on twitter seem to feel the same as you.

You could perhaps follow Graham Linehan @glinner and see who he follows and retweets?

There was a huge peaktrans thread on boards.ie that was shut down for not being "fun".
www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057889167

Have also seen loads of critical threads on politics.ie

I saw a local Together For Yes Facebook group pile on a contributor who voiced concern about the attempt to 'be inclusive' in the language that will be used in the forthcoming abortion legislation (there was an attempt to have the legislation talk about 'people' who need abortions in case it was offensive to transmen.) How dare she suggest that only women need abortions!
For some reason, a lot of the legal academics seem very woke (De Londres, Enright and many others who were active in 'repeal' movement. It is depressing.)

The anti UK 'Terfs' letter of earlier this year was sickening and has been used by Irish TRAs to silence any discussion that (rarely) sprouts up. I do think the issues in Ireland are different, not so inflamed as in the UK, but the end results will be same, even if it takes a lot longer for most of us to notice.

Any of the Irish Mumsnet-type sites I am on do have GC women but are usually shouted down by the local handmaids, and I suspect most are actually lurking here (waves to the other Ex MagicMs )
I will have to create new accounts on my Irish sites if I go public on being GC - I am recognizable and concerned about my job. Ireland is a very small country.

I wouldn't think politics.ie is gender critical- there's very little grasp of the issues there outside the ignorant "PC gone mad" sort. Extremely male dominated; you'll rarely see any feminist perspective. Haven't checked out the boards.ie thread.

It's worth noting there's a big American influence in Ireland- certain individuals in various social movements have a powerful influence, which is easy in such a small country. Much uncritical drinking of identity politics Kool Aid seems to have happened, and god knows what's going on in academia

Hi OP, I am Irish. I will send you a PM when I get a chance. There are some GC Irish people on twitter if you are on there?

There was a thread on boards.ie last week titled "the worrying rise of terfism in the UK" (LGBT board). Some GC voices speaking into the echo chamber but in the main it was all TWAW. I think there's very little awareness of this here yet really despite us having self ID. That went through totally under the radar so most people are unaware of it. If you do try to challenge it online there is a strong backlash from the handmaidens who have totally swallowed the party line.

Yup!

Twitter is a depressing chess pit of Irish wokeness at the moment. I’m getting a bit pissed off at people almost automatically taking whatever side the UK feminists oppose as if it’s a badge of Irish nationalism.

I follow the Alliance For Choice on Facebook and they shared an article from some London Irish group about how trans voices shouldn’t be excluded from the abortion debate . I replied underneath it saying there was a reason that the successful campaign chose to run with “Trust Women” rather than “Trust People With Uteruses” and that this is still a fight that needs to be won in NI without alienating people. I got the usual woke reply from the people that run the page, but more people “liked” my comment than there’s, so I have hope that more GC people are out there, they’re just staying under the radar.

I've searched several times for feminist groups in Dublin, and all trumpet how inclusive they are. Usually the very first fucking thing they say in their intro.

I'd be interested in meeting up with like-minded women in Dublin.

I have had what I would term 'light' conversations around the issue with many other Irish women. Most, admittedly, were late 30s and up, but pretty much all expressed some reservations around the current position around these issues. Unfortunately most of them also knew very little about it until we discussed it.

I think that's part of the issue, it's not as prominent or well debated as it is in the UK. The legislation went through without any public debate and the transgender population appears to be a small one, although increasingly vocal, particularly on social media and in universities. Most Irish people know very little about the issues.

"The IFN organises regular meetings throughout the year to share ideas and take action against injustices faced due to gender identity in Ireland."

Gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender gender

Yup, here but just staying under the radar.

I mostly quit social media a while ago and feel that the regular people I meet, work with, etc. are a million miles from the woke circle-jerk that is Twitter and FB.

Amongst my wider circle, there is lots of compassion and some degree of pity for trans people that comes from the passing assumption "sure they've had it hard and they're not doing any harm" rather than from people buying wholesale into identity politics. Most people with lives, kids, mortgages, etc. don't give a shiny shit about identity politics because they're too damned busy to give it any thought. Given how few trans people there are in Ireland (even with a form of self id), most people I know have never met a trans person irl, but would use preferred pronouns etc. out of a sense of courtesy if the occasion arose.

But as soon as you mention actual harm (like Karen White), or mention that trans kids are consenting to drugs that make them sterile at an age when they're not even considered old enough to vote responsibly, or point out that women's changing rooms are open to any chancer who says he identifies as a woman... then it all changes. The compassion for individuals with gender dysphoria (even if they don't know what it's called) remains, but the blind acceptance of trans ideology is replaced by a much more questioning and critical stance.

So my experience is that TWAW has no traction whatsoever in the general populace. If you're not on social media, you hardly encounter that view at all In real life, on mainstream media, etc. I take solace in that...

Juells, I'm not far from Dublin

Juells- I’m Belfast but have family in Dublin so I’m down frequently enough

Placemarking- will be back later! I was going to post this exact query over the weekend!

Hi Superstylin, Just wanted you to know you're not alone! I'm not on Facebook so I haven't witnessed the pile on you're talking about but I am concerned about the erosion of women's rights in Ireland. I feel like it's a sleepwalk by most rather than a conscious decision.

I'd echo MarDhea re her experiences. Most people are 'live and let live' (myself included until recently), but when you give specific examples they can clearly see the issues. I work in Dublin and like the idea of a support network of sane individuals.

There is pretty much no feminist/women's space in Ireland that isn't crawling all over men and their feelz. It's pathetic, considering how we've supposedly shaken off the patriarchal Catholic church.

I'd like to meet yiz too although am massively paranoid about stings and whatnot...honestly TRAs and their handmaidens are some of the worst people I've ever encountered in my life, I'd rather tangle with SPUC...

I'd like to meet yiz too although am massively paranoid about stings and whatnot

Isn't it appalling that in 2018 women are afraid to identify themselves because of the fear that 'the other woman' might in reality be someone who'll make your life hell because he or she is a lovely liberal inclusive person who loves everyone?

Yes Juells. They have Mumsnet in their sights too, you might find screenshots of your posts on Twitter if you say the wrong thing.

The young women depress me the most, because beardy self righteous men who turn out to be misogynists are no surprise to me (hello student politics!). But women talking about other women in that dehumanising way -."Bang of terf off this one" they'll say. A bang = a bad smell. Off a strange woman on the internet whose feminism doesn't fit in with your idea of feminism. So she smells. She's not "this person" or "this woman" she's "this one". An "it". Warnings about the spread of"terfism" -imagine the sound of that when you get rid of the t, e and r. The spread of feminism.

They break my heart, they really do, high-fiving each other and competing to see who can be the best, coolest girl ever, and hunting down dissenters.

I don't think I could take the risk of meeting up with others sadly. I've already had a post from here screenshotted and sent around the twitter sphere although it didn't get as much attention as I feared at first.

It was actually tweeted originally by GC feminist, ironically, because it supported a point they were making. That did vex me a bit given what has subsequently happened to others who've had posts go viral.

Christ on a bike, it's like being in a spy network or revolutionary cell where you can't know anyone else's identity in case you get lifted and tortured 😂

Isn't it shocking? The real life potential consequences are ridiculous though. All for holding an opinion contrary to the prevailing one.